[Sigia-l] User Test Cost - Does this sound reasonable?

[Kevin Cheng]

Jared: Some really interesting points. I particularly like the part about
doing your own recruiting. I do question this one suggestion thought -

You said:
"3) Avoid reports. We have a rule of thumb in our work: If the team reads 
anything in our report that they didn't *already* know, we've failed.

The team should know everything that happens in the test long before any 
report tells them. Reports are good for archives and the few people who 
can't be at the test for really good reasons, like they are off having a 
baby or they weren't hired yet. Other than that, they should get the 
results directly from the tests themselves or from quick summaries and 
email discussions that follow each test session.

A meeting to discuss testing results within 24 hours of the last test will 
trump the benefits of any report, any day."

I agree that this is a nice ideal but practically speaking, many development
teams are quite large or spread out, especially given today's trend towards
telecommuters and outsourcing. For products like Microsoft Word, for
example, you probably have a great deal of developers, each siloed into
sub-teams themselves. On a project I was on last year, I was involved with
developers in London, Bangalore, and Austin.

Having them attend usability tests, or the second best option of meeting
with them soon after, while undeniably useful, isn't always pragmatic.

 
Kevin Cheng (KC)
OK/Cancel: Interface Your Fears
kc at ok-cancel.com
www.ok-cancel.com